Women’s World Championship Final – Ushenina goes into the lead

11/29/2012 – The first game was a fighting draw, the second a short, sharp theoretical battle. In the third former women's world champion, Antoaneta Stefanova went for the Chebanenko Variation. Her opponent, Anna Ushenina conducted an interesting tactical operation, and when Stefanova got into time trouble played flawlessly to win. She leads with 2:1 points and one (regular) game to go. Not impressed?

The Women’s World Chess Cup 2012 is being staged by the Ugorian
Chess Academy in Khanty-Mansiysk from 11 November to 2 December. The best
64 chess
players in the world are taking part in the competition, which consist
of six knock-out rounds of two games, which reduce the participants from
64 to 32, 16, 8, 4, and 2. The final consists of four games, the winner
will play a match against the winner of FIDE Women’s Grand Prix
2011-2012 (Hou Yifan), which will determine the World Champion among women.

Finals: Anna Ushenina (UKR) vs Antoaneta Stefanova (BUL)

Game one

Start of the finals of the Women's World Chess Championship 2012 in Khanty-Mansiysk

In their first game on Tuesday the Ukrainian IM had a certain initiative with
White in a well-known opening variation of the Bogo-Indian. After the game Anna
Ushenina said that she had expected it, although her opponent does not use it
often. White had certain initiative, but Black’s position was very solid.

After the opening Stefanova (above right) offered a draw, but Ushenina declined
and, as she confessed at the press conference, overreacted, weakening her king
too much. Soon Black won a pawn and obtained excellent winning chances. However,
Stefanova, being under time pressure, made a mistake on the 31st move, moving
the f-pawn and weakening her king as well.

White activated her queen and rook, and within the next few moves Black’s
advantage evaporated. In five more moves the players agreed to a draw.

Game two

The second game featured an interesting theoretical discussion. The Bulgarian
GM, playing white, decided to test her opponent’s knowledge in a very
sharp opening variation known as the Slav Gambit: White sacrifices a central
pawn, but forces Black to keep the king in the center and obtains long-lasting
initiative.

Ushenina, however, deviated from the main lines, and by the tenth move the
players reached an original position with complicated strategic and tactical
pattern. The position looked more promising for White, but Stefanova possibly
misplayed it on the next few moves. Ushenina could sacrifice a pawn for the
initiative and try to utilize her development lead. This would create a very
sharp game risky for both sides. However, the Ukrainian preferred a safer path,
simplifying the position, and the players agreed to a draw already on the 17th
move on a half-empty board.

Game three

The third game was a Slav. Stefanova went for the Chebanenko Variation (with
4…a6, also called the Chameleon Variation), which she hadn’t use
for a long time. Nevertheless, Ushenina was not caught by surprise. White played
very well and got a small advantage. In an attempt to activate her pieces, Black
carried out a pawn break in the center, which turned out very risky. White replied
with an interesting tactical operation, trading two minor pieces for a rook
and two pawns. Formally the material was still equal, however, White got a clear
advantage: Black’s pieces were badly coordinated, and her king became
weak. Soon White advanced the passed pawn, and her position became overwhelming.

Stefanova got into a time trouble and was unable to defend perfectly. Instead
of seeking vital counterplay on the kingside, she decided to play passively,
which turned out to be a decisive mistake. Ushenina converted her advantage
flawlessly, not giving her opponent any hope. Black resigned on the 37th move.

By winning this game Anna Ushenina took the match lead: 2-1. The fourth game
(and the last one with classical time controls) is scheduled for Friday (November
30th). Antoaneta Stefanova plays white and needs a win to stay in the championship.

Results of the finals

Name

G1

G2

G1

G2

R1

R2

Tot

IM Anna Ushenina (2452, UKR)

½

½

1

2.0

GM Antoaneta Stefanova (2491, BUL)

½

½

0

1.0

Replay all games from the finals

Credit: The above report was based on article published
by the official web site, which has some extraordinary pictures, were made by
Anna Burtasova, Etery Kublashvili, Vladimir Barsky and local photographers.
Many more images are to be found here.

The live video coverage is provided by Mark Gluhovsky from ChessTV.
There will be English language commentary by GM Alexander Khalifman. For the
first time Mark is going to try to supply commentary in Chinese: GM Peng Zhaoqing
speaking from her home in Holland. The Russian commentary will come from GM
Sergei Shipov, working out of Moscow.

See also

9/26/2017 – The final classical game. The finals has been relatively sedate with three draws until now. But it could all end today with one decisive game. Ding Liren has the black pieces today. It's going to be an exciting game. Games kick off at 13:00 CEST (7:00 AM EST) with live commentary from Tbilisi by GMs Evgeny Miroshnichenko and WGM Keti Tsatsalashvili and live updates by our reporters Sagar Shah and Amruta Mokal.

See also

7/5/2017 – This is neither prank nor clever wording: Garry Kasparov will be playing in the official St. Louis leg of the Grand Chess Tour from August 14-19, 2017. Please note that this is the Rapid and Blitz competition, just as the ones held in Paris and Levuen these last weeks, and not the classical events. However, this is not an exhibition event, and will determine the official Grand Chess Tour rankings as well as FIDE ratings of the players. Here is the press release.

Video

Tired of spending hours and hours on the boring theory of your favourite opening? Then here is your solution, play an Anti-Sicilian with 3.Bb5 against 2...d6 or 2...Nc6, and 3.d3 against 2...e6. In 60 minutes you will get a crash course in how to avoid mainstream theory and in understanding the ideas of this Anti-Sicilian setup. After these 60 minutes you should be able to survive the Sicilian for a long time, without being bothered by new developments found by engine x supported by an x-core machine. Now that it finally comes down to understanding, let's play chess!